The Puppet Alchemist
by Everyday Daydreamer
Summary: The Puppet Alchemist, something seems different...off about her. She draws both Ed's and Al's attention. Sorry I'm not great with summarys, but I think you guys will like this. Super Hiatus.
1. Chapter 1

**(Firstly, they are around 15 and 14 but Al has his body back Ed still has metal arm and leg though.)**

Al and I walked into HQ, down the hall, and Mustangs office when. That's when we first saw her. She looked maybe a year older than me, maybe, and she was arguing with Mustang.

"No." She said to him, both ignored us.

"This isn't a question; it's an order from the top."

"I don't care. Tell Bradley to go to hell."

"I can't do that." Mustang said annoyed. "You are the puppet alchemist; you do as you're told."

"Since when?" He sighed and looked past her to look at us, "Full Metal, I'm glad you're here." She said, turning then to look at me then, her short white hair moved slightly as her gray eyes landed on me. "That is who you are correct?"

"Yeah," I started but I was cut off by her looking back at Mustang.

"Now you're busy, see you later." She left, ignoring Mustang's protests.

"Sorry about…her." Mustang said, rubbing his temples.

"Who is she?" I asked, unable to hide my interest. "I didn't know anyone else my age was here."

"Ai is the Puppet Alchemist; believe it or not she's a year older than you. And was in the war."

"What?" I asked, I must have misheard. "Than she was only around 8 and fighting!"

"Yes, Ai is incredibly gifted. She joined after her parents were killed around the age of 7, and she was quite heartless for a long time. It was in the war that she started to open up."

"Why would she be allowed in at such a young age?"

"Her parents were here and Bradley liked her power." I was in shock, to be so young and kill and fight in the war.

"Brother if we're done here let's go eat." I looked at Al and nodded, he was eating a lot now that he had his body back. We left to the cafeteria with Mustang. As we were eating we continued to talk about her till she was suddenly upside down in front of me.

"You wanna see?" She asked, I looked up, her feet were on the ceiling and she was walking around. She looked to the people, "Hey! Who wants to be my test dummy?" No one made a move, "Cowards!" She called and put her hand in Mustangs hair. "Roy, you're up."

"What?" She pulled him away and we followed to the arena where Armstrong was. "I hate this." Mustang said as she put her hands together and then touched his arms hands, fingers, legs and feet.

"Get over it." I looked around to find that everyone had followed us out. "Ready?"

"No."

"Come at us Armstrong!" He did, at full force and I watched as she jumped back, Mustang followed the movements exactly. Watching the fight almost looked like watching some perfectly rehearsed dance. It was crazy; she than snapped and Mustangs fire flew from his hands. It was amazing. Armstrong was getting tired. "Armstrong! Toss some water on Roy's hands!" He did so, "Now watch." She said to me as she stood next to Mustang. She snapped and the fire was released from her hand instead of his.

"Wow." I said as she released Mustang, who fell to his knees panting.

"Mustang you should get into shape."

"I _am_ in shape!" He said she shrugged at that.

"I'm going to go now," She stopped when fire hit her ankle, "That was rude."

"You're going on the mission you were assigned or leaving with Full Metal."

"Fine, Full Metal when do you leave?"

"We're leaving now." I said surprised that this girl was going to come with two strangers over going on her mission.

"Good, let's go." Al and I started to walk, "So what are your names?"

"You don't know?" Al asked, she rolled her eyes.

"If I knew wouldn't have asked. Bradley likes to keep me busy so I rarely learn others names."

"I'm Alphonse Elric and this is Edward Elric."

"Nice to meet you both." She said, "Call Me Ai."


	2. Chapter 2

Ai's POV

I looked at the two boys that I was leaving with. _I'm insane._ I shook my head and turned to them. "So where are we going?"

"We're walking to the next town over." Ed answered

"Good. I haven't been there in a long time." We walked through woods for a while. Eventually we came across a pond.

"Let's stop here for the night." Ed said, they both looked tired so I agreed. I sat next to the pond and took off my shoes to dip my feet in the water. Al was asleep in a few minutes. I looked at Ed, who was still awake.

"So, Ed right?" He nodded; I looked at his mechanical arm.

"What mission could you possibly have that would make you rather go off with two strangers, teenage boys, instead?"

"Let's just say I'm tired of Bradley."

"You must be, not that I blame you." He mumbled.

"I'm guessing you know what he is?" He nodded, "Great. So to change the subject, why is your arm made of metal?"

"You're not one to beat around the bush are you?"

"Why waste time?" I asked with a shrug. "Don't answer if you don't want to, I was just curious." I knew it was going to take a bit to get anything out of him, so I looked to the water.

"You wear interesting cloths." I laughed a bit. It was a fake laugh, slightly bitter, but a laugh all the same. "What?"

"I wear something similar to what I wore in the war."

"That's not a uniform." He pointed out

"I was 8, why would I wear a uniform?"

"Why would you be in a war?"

"Tussah." I said, "But in all honesty, I wore a child like version of this. No jewelry, my skirt was longer though. It went below my knees. I had my hair longer back then. It went to my mid back." I looked to him, "In all honesty, I kept this look because, as twisted as it sounds, the war was possibly the best time of my life."

=====Ed's POV=====

"The war was the best time of my life." Okay, so she is insane. Great. I mean, who needs sanity anyway? "I know how that sounds, but I found a family there."

"The war…"

"I found Roy and Armstrong…They became my closest friends. Marcoh and Jean Havoc and Hughes all kept me entertained, got my mind of what I did or was doing. They were my family, something I'd never had." She looked lost in her memories. But really? War was the best memories she ever had? That's so sad.

"So," I started, desperate to change the subject. "Why do you wear that on your leg?"

"Hm?" She looked down at her leg, "That's a good question." I nodded, "Maybe one day I'll tell you." I stared at her, what could it possibly be that she won't tell me?

=======Ai's POV========

We arrived in the village around noon the next day, we would have been earlier but Ed wouldn't wake up. I found that Al was easy to open up to. I could talk to him for hours, I did in fact. Though for the most part it wasn't anything I found important.

"Okay, okay," He laughed as we arrived; we were playing a game now. Ed was pouting so he wouldn't participate though. It was the question game, I'd ask a question and he'd answer, then I'd answer, then he'd ask a question and I'd answer and so on. Now it was Al's turn. "So," He looked up in thought as we walked through the little town, "I've got one. How did you meet Armstrong?"

"Armstrong?" I smiled, "I met him when I was about 6." I said as I remembered the day, "The muscle man creped me out when I met him, but he ended up saving me from a fall that may have made me unable to do alchemy."

"What happened?"

"Well, I was a kid experimenting with alchemy and went too far." I said, "It was something that would be relatively harmless now, but I was small and young. I went to my roof, that's where I had been working on my puppet technique, and tried to use it on my pet. She is an extremely large animal and my alchemy use on her scared her, so she ran. The thing is I was attached to her, so when she ran I was pulled off the roof with her."

"You can run under your puppet strings?" Ed asked, joining into our conversation, finally.

"Sort of, see for the average person, man or women, I have complete control. But for someone like Armstrong, who is about three times my weight because of all that muscle, he could move away easily."

"That must have been one large pet."

"She is Al, and she pulled me off the third story roof and Armstrong caught me." I sighed as we stopped. "So what are we doing here Ed?"

"You and Al can go sit down; I just need to talk to someone." I followed Al to a table as Ed went to the bar to talk to the owner.

"Al, what is he doing?" I asked as we ordered food.

"I don't know. Brother is looking for a way to get rid of Bradley. Maybe he has a connection here."

"Hmm…"

"So what was the mission that he wanted you to go on?"

"Something that had to do with Envy." I shrugged; I saw the look on Al's face that said he knew exactly who Envy is. "I see you've met." He nodded, "As have we, he and I have a lot of history."

"What kind of history?" I shook my head.

"Mission history," I said as I took a bite of my food. "I've never been too fond of him, but he's better then Lust." I said. That's when something hit me. "I do know about you two," I said suddenly.

"What?"

"I didn't realize it was you two because when I heard of you it was the big guy in the metal suit and the little one. When I saw you it was the two boys with blond hair and gold eyes. I didn't see any metal guy, just two boys."

"But didn't you call us out. You said 'Full metal, I'm glad you're here.'"

"I knew that full metal has metal limbs, I could tell Ed did." I said, "But you are all flesh and blood so I didn't see you by your reputation. Why aren't you in that anymore?"

"Um…" I cocked my head waiting for his answer. "It was getting in the way."

"No, you were in that for years, it wouldn't just change."

"No really, I just stopped wearing it one day." I looked at him suspiciously.

"I won't force it out of you." I decided with a shrug, "I've found it's not a good way to make friends."

"Really, you're just going to drop it?"

"I won't lie, I am curious, but I'll stay quiet and wait till you're ready." He looked surprised as hell that I was leaving him be. "So, if that's that, what could Ed possibly be doing over there?"

"Um, I guess we're about to find out." I looked over to find that Ed was on his way to us with a frown planted on his face. "Hey brother, what were you doing?"

"Let's go get a hotel room." He said ignoring the question. We got up and followed him out and to a hotel, but I stopped him from walking into the building. "What?"

"Don't go in there." I said looking at him seriously.

"Why?"

"Just trust me." I said to him. After a moment he nodded and I led them to a different hotel, "I'll pay." I said as I got us a room. I led them to the room and took one of them, "Night guys."


	3. Chapter 3

======Al's POV======

She paid for the hotel room but this room was crazy. The hotel room had three bedrooms in it plus the living room and kitchen and bathroom. It was insane. She had left to one room and I was guessing she was going to bed.

"Brother how did she afforded this?" I asked him as we both walked to our rooms.

"I have no idea." He said, "Night Al."

"Good night Ed." We went to our rooms then. "Maybe she has connections here." I said aloud as I lay on the bed and went to sleep. But not before hearing a bedroom door open…

=====Ed's POV====

I feel asleep almost instantly, but I felt something off as I slept. I opened my eyes to see someone on the other side of my room. It was Ai, but she had nothing on her arms and had on no jewelry. I stared at her for a moment. She had my journal. She looked at me, then back at the journal before she snapped it closed and put it back.

"Ai what are you doing?" She turned to me with a smile on her face, man she has a cute smile. I shook the thought from my head as she walked over to me. "Ai?" She walked to the bad and sat on me before putting her finger on my mouth.

"Shh, you don't want to wake Alphonse." That's not right; she hasn't called him that since we met. This couldn't be right.

"Ai what are you doing?" I asked again, she was still on me and that's when it hit me. She's not one to do this kind of thing. "I'm dreaming aren't I?"

"Edward," She leaned over and whispered in my ear, "How did you get here?"

"I walked?" She giggled; Ai does not seem like the kind to giggle.

"No, that's how you think you got here, that's what you'd normally do. But how did you get here."

"I…"

"Think hard, Edward." It was hard to concentrate with her this close and in this position…

"I don't know." I said finally.

"When you dream, do you start at the beginning of something, or just find yourself in the dream?" She had a point, I had no real idea how I got here, and this is not-wait!

"Why would I be dreaming about you?" She was still next to my ear, but for that moment she sat up.

"You tell me." She said, "Now if you don't want to dream this, just close your eyes and go back to sleep." I nodded and closed my eyes before going back to sleep.

=====Ai's POV=====

I took in a deep breath once the boys went to bed. I pulled off all my jewelry and my arm warmers before I left the room and went to Ed's. I silently opened the door and slipped in before I went through Ed's coat till I found what I was looking for. His journal. I opened it and carefully and started to read, it wasn't hard to decode. His work was extensive and I found what I was looking for. Everything that had to do with the homunculus, it was all here.

"Ai what are you doing?" I looked over at him, then back at the book. _Shit._ I snapped the book closed as a thought came to my head. I turned back to him and smiled. I walked over to him silently. "Ai?" I walked over and put myself on top of him.

"Shh, you don't want to wake Alphonse." I said to him, I just needed him to think something was off, I never use Al's full name.

"Ai what are you doing?" I gave him a moment as his brain worked what was going on. "I'm dreaming aren't I?"

"Edward," I leaned in close to his ear and whispered to him, "How did you get here?"

"I walked?" I giggled; ick that's so not me!

"No, that's how you think you got here, that's what you'd normally do. But how did you get here."

"I…"

"Think hard, Edward." I knew it would be hard for him to think with me on him in this position

"I don't know." He said finally. I smiled; success.

"When you dream, do you start at the beginning of something, or just find yourself in the dream?" I said, it told him, it was a practically a fact that you never know how you get where you are in a dream.

"Why would I be dreaming about you?" I sat up and looked at him with a smile.

"You tell me." I said, "Now if you don't want to dream this, just close your eyes and go back to sleep." He nodded and closed his eyes. I waited a moment before I got off him. "God that was close." I mumbled as I got off. I went and made sure that the book was exactly where I found it before I left the room. I went to my room and fell onto my bed. "I was so close to being dead, and what if he hadn't believed me? Then how would I explain the fact that I was on him?" I shook my head, "His head is easy to mess with." I sighed as I went to sleep.


	4. Chapter 4

"Good morning Ai." I looked over at Al with a smile.

"Morning Al, Ed." I nodded to each of them. I saw Ed blush slightly. "Something wrong Ed?" I was inwardly smirking at him.

"No, nothing." I nodded and yawned.

"So, how long are we staying? Or do we leave today?"

"Um… We leave today, by train."

"Ed?"

"Hm...?"

"Why won't you look at me?"

"I am looking at you."

"In the eyes?" I was trying hard to hide my amusement, but it was hard. "Did I do something wrong?"

"No, no you didn't do anything." He looked me in the eyes for a second, and then looked away.

"Uha…" I said with a smile, "Well, when do we leave?"

"On the next train." He left to his room and left Al and I alone.

"What did you do last night?" I looked at him.

"What?"

"Last night, before I went to sleep I heard you leave your room and now brother can't seem to look you in the eye." He had a smirk pulling on his lips.

"I left my room to get something to eat. I don't know why Ed can't look me in the eye."

"Why are you smirking?"

"The real question is what do you think I did to make me smirk."

"I haven't the slightest idea."

"Well okay then." I said as we went to get our stuff from our rooms. We left soon after that and went to the train. We got into a booth and I smiled as we sat and Ed looked out the window. He looked over to me and saw a frown.

"What's wrong?"

"I'm not sure." I said, "I just have an uneasy feeling. Like something is going to go wrong…" The train then stopped.

"How did you-?"

"I just did." I said as the compartments started being searched. "Just stay calm, I have a plan." Both boys nodded, curious. The door slid open then and a man walked in. He looked us over, his eyes lingering on me.

"Come with me." He said, I stood before the boys and walked over to him. I put my hands behind my back and clapped them together, I then touched my lips. "Hello there." He said, I smiled at him and kissed him.

"What the hell are you doing?" Ed yelled behind me. When I pulled back I rolled my eyes.

"How else was I supposed to keep him quiet?"

"What?" He yelled.

"Shh! I stopped him from talking. I am an alchemist after all."

"You used puppet alchemy?" Al asked, I nodded

"You don't think I'd just kiss a guy do you?" I touched his hands, arms, legs, feet, and head, "No one's getting away. Now act natural." I said to the boys as we walked down the hall, I took in a deep breath and started to talk through him.

"Oi! Guys, found them." The other guys looked at him and nodded as they all walked down the train.

"Like taking candy from a baby." I said as we walked. We were quickly approaching the end of the train, but on the walked there we got to a train with no one in it, the luggage cart. "Boys?" They stopped and looked at me. "Would you come here?" The majority of them stopped and about half came as the other half went ahead. "Ed, Al, a little help?" They both smiled and put their hands together locking in the men. "Thanks." I got to work then, keeping them silent then putting on the strings. "I wish I had a different way to do that." I said as we left the cart.

"I see you found them," I looked over at the leader, I was tired as hell with all the strings I had going around the room.

"Is there something you are looking for?"

"Yes, you."

"Me?"

"You."

"Why would you want me?"

"I think you know why."

"You know, I'm not much for useless talk or questions, so when I ask I rarely know the answer."

"The answer is all around this room."

"Your men?"

"The ones under your control."

"Sir, I think you have the wrong girl, though I am part of the military I am not an alchemist, so I can't have anything all over this room except maybe men."

"You dear are indeed an alchemist, an amazing one at that. To keep so many men under your control…"

"Sir, have I done something to you?"

"Not to me, for me."

"I'm getting tired of playing your game." I said annoyed as I flicked my finger and the men attacked their leader.


	5. Chapter 5

Soon they had him taken down and cuffed. "You bother me." I said as, with the help of Ed and Al, I cuffed the rest of them. "Guys, get the train going again and call Mustang." They did as they were told and we arrived at Central in about an hour. Mustang was on the train quickly as the rest of the military took the goons away. "Hey Roy." I said, I was sweating like crazy and having trouble staying awake.

"Ann!"

"Ann?"

"Don't call me that." I said as they took away the head guy and I fell back onto Ed, who happened to be standing behind me. "Thanks." I mumbled to Ed as he caught me.

"Ann what did you do?"

"Stop calling me that!" I yelled at him, "I'll talk to you later." I said calmer that time. "I need rest." I said as I started to black out…

======Ed's POV======

She fell asleep in my arms then. I smiled down at her.

"I'd be tired too." I said as I lifted her up so I was carrying her bridal style.

"What the hell did Ann do?"

"Why are you calling her Ann?" Al asked, I shook my head,

"She gave us a fake name." I said.

"No she didn't." I looked at Mustang, "She had it changed after the war."

"She had her name changed so young?"

"She said Ann is who she was, Ai is who she is. Ann is her given name, the one that we often use on her, those of us that have known her since she was Ann." He sighed and shook his head. "Let's go." We followed him, but we didn't go to HQ, or a hospital, we went to a house. A very large house too. Mustang just opened the door and walked in. I looked at Al before we followed him in. "This way." He said as he led us to a bedroom with a huge bed in it.

"Where are we?" Al asked what I was thinking as I set her down on the bed.

"Ann-I mean Ai's house." He looked around the room and sighed, "She'll kill me when she wakes up for bring her here."

"She doesn't come here all the time?"

"No, Ai hates this house. She doesn't like the association."

"With?" I asked

"My name." I turned to find Ai was sitting up with a hand on her head. "Why am I here Roy?"

"Here? You mean your house? Well because you passed out in Full Metals arms. Because you used to much energy, because-!"

"Shut up!" She yelled, she sounded angry as hell. "I should not be here! Ever! I tell you that every time! Never bring me here!"

"You'd be mad in a hospital too!"

"You should have brought me to HQ like always! You never, ever, bring me here!" She took in a sharp breath then and leaned against the back bored rubbing her temples. "Why would you ever bring me here?"

"Ann…"

"Not my name."

"Fine, Ai. I brought you here because it's not safe for you to be at HQ right now." Her eyes snapped open at that and she looked directly at him.

"Come again?"

"Ai, I don't want you going to HQ till I tell you otherwise. Bradley is not happy with you and is still here."

"Still? When did he arrive?" Mustang looked down, "Is that why you were so desperate to get me out of central?"

"Ai, I was doing what's best."

"I think I may have to hurt you now."

"Why?" Al asked, his curiosity finally getting the better of him. "Wasn't he doing what he needed to, to protect you? Isn't that what friends do?"

"Not when friends have alternate motives in it."

"What?" I asked, completely confused.


	6. Chapter 6

=====Ai's POV====

"Roy Mustang has alternate motives." I said as I got out of bed. I got up slowly and stood there a moment before I spoke again. "Roy Mustang, I thought nothing of it when you had me leave, but to make me leave so you could start your plan." I shook my head, "You are not going to get off the hook easily."

"Your plan?" I looked at Ed.

"His plan, the plan to over throw Bradley."

"To what?" Al and Ed said simultaneously.

"You two do that a lot don't you?" I said annoyed. "But you heard me correctly." I sent him a glare as I walked passed them, passed the door, to the kitchen. They all followed me as I walked over and knelt down. I pulled out a soda and walked passed them again, this time going to my living room and sitting on a couch. "Roy, of all the things…" I said as I drank my soda, "If you had just told me, I would have left. Of all the people, you sent me away instead…"

"I know you, if you knew you would have slipped back in. You and I both know that Armstrong couldn't have kept you away." I looked as the can that was in my hand, now empty, and then threw it at him. "Ouch!"

"Oh don't be such a baby." I said rolling my eyes, "Jeez, sometimes I wonder if you really are a man."


End file.
